Barren
by panda808
Summary: Naruto and Hinata have been married for 4 years, but after all that time they have not been able to conceive a child. Naruto wants a family of his own, but what if Hinata can't give that to him. Slight AU. ONE SHOT


So this is a slight AU fic. I'm prepared for the hate that may follow. See A/N below for more on why I wrote this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

"Ta dai ma!" Naruto called out, opening the door. He loved coming home, especially after a rough day with his genin team or returning from a solo mission. For most of his life, he didn't have anyone to greet him when he came home at the end of the day. That all changed when he married Hinata. The beautiful Hyuga princess was the light of his life. Her caring smile and gentle heart was his comfort. He eagerly listened for her cheerful 'Okairinasai' to welcome him back home, but he was met with nothing but silence.

'Hmm…that's odd' he thought. Her shoes were here so she had to be home. 'Maybe she didn't hear me.'

"Ta dai ma!" he said enthusiastically once more.

Nothing.

"Hinata? Are you home?"

Nothing.

'Maybe she's taking a nap'. Naruto made his way to their bedroom. With a wave of relief as he saw a mound of covers and the cascade of long violet hair.

Not wanting to wake his slumbering princess, Naruto to turned to head back to the living room. That's when he heard a faint sniffle and a whimper.

"Hinata?" Crossing to her side of the bed, Naruto crouched down to face his wife. No sooner than he'd done so Hinata turned over and faced her back to him.

"Hinata, daijoubu ka?"

Her only response was more sniffles and half sobs full audible to her worried husband. Naruto climbed on to the bed and reached for his distressed wife. But she hid her face and once again turned so that her back was once again facing him.

"Hinata. Darling, look at me. What's wrong?" he pleaded.

After what seemed like an eternity Hinata finally turned to face her husband. Her eyes were red and puffy. It looked like she had been crying for a while. Seeing his wife like this broke his heart. He reached out to her and held her against his chest. He didn't know why she was crying but all he could do was hold her. A few minutes passed before Naruto felt a mumble against his neck.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered.

"hmmm? What was that Hinata? I can't hear you."

Gently creating some space, enough to look at her husband, Hinata said again, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I'm so sorry."

"What for? What happened? Why are you sorry?"

"I….I got my period this morning."

There it was. The cold hard truth. Naruto felt his chest tighten a bit. As he gazed at his wife, her eyes brimming with new tears he felt his heart break a bit more. He grasped the back of her head and pulled her back against him, embracing her with all his might.

"Shhhh….darling. It's not your fault. There's nothing to be sorry for." He cooed trying to soother her.

"I thought this time…..I really thought this time would work." Hinata said with a sob. "I'm so sorry."

They had been trying for almost 4 years to have a child. When they first got married, Naruto expressed his desire to start a family since he didn't grow up with one and Hinata was more than happy to agree; however, after 4 years they were still childless. It wasn't for the lack of trying. For the first two years they tried naturally. It was hard to see all his friends who got married after he did start to have children. Sai was especially cruel, though unintentionally, when he would joke about Naruto not knowing how to use his 'equipment' right.

After year 2 with no success. They Hyuga clan took it upon themselves to bestow the couple with every home fertility enhancer known to man. At one point one of the elders told them to drink a special tea, then 'do it' doggy style in a field during the full moon. The elder was adamant about its success, but all Naruto had to show for that attempt was bad case of poison ivy rash in all the wrong places.

Despite the good intentions of the Hyuga clan, the young couple decided to get medical help. Sakura was incredibly supportive of the couple and after running tests and discussing at length the couple's sex life. She formulated a plan to monitor Hinata's cycle and inject Naruto's sperm directly into her uterus at the prime conception window. Naruto was really hesitant at first to do this procedure because he would have to 'collect' his seed in a cup, but his need to make his wife happy overrode any awkward thoughts about the whole ordeal. He had an easier time with this process than Hinata did. His poor wife had to have daily injections of hormones, blood tests, and chakra scans. They tried this method 4 times without any success.

Their last option was a new type of procedure. Tsunade Baachan had come across this new technique during her travels after she had stepped down as Hokage. This technique required for embryo to be extracted from the woman's ovary then fertilized with sperm before being implanted back in the woman's uterus. The medical ninjas from the Land of Snow had developed this technique due to their low birth rate. Though still very new, it had tremendous results with the people who saw a 30% increase in pregnancy within the past 2 years.

This was even harder on Hinata because not only did she have double the hormones, blood tests, and chakra scans to deal with, but she also had to constantly monitor her chakra so that the medical nins could track how many embryos she was developing. Tsunade despite her confidence in this technique limited them to 3 tries. This was still a new procedure and it was unclear how the body would react to numerous attempts.

Unfortunately for the young couple this was their 3rd strike.

Hinata continued to sob into her husband's shoulder. 'What is wrong with me?' She thought. 'I'm a failure.' She had worked so hard for so many years to become someone who could stand beside Naruto. She felt her years of training to become stronger and more confident were wasted. She had failed her husband who so longed for a family of his own. The hard realization that she would never bear a child for Naruto killed her. He deserved a family after all that he had been through in his lonely life, after everything he fought for, after saving the world twice over he deserved a family who loved him; and Hinata could not give him that. He deserved better. Hinata knew what she must do. She closed her eyes against her husband, inhaling his scent, hearing his heart beat. His arms wrapped so tightly against her yet, no amount of comfort could ease her broken heart.

The next morning Naruto awoke to an empty bed. His arms and neck were throbbing. He had held Hinata all night until her sobs subsided and sleep took them both.

"Hinata." He called out. No response.

He felt a cold dread wash over him. Naruto leapt from the bed.

"Hinata!" he cried as he raced through the house.

She wasn't here. Naruto made a dash towards the door hellbent on searching the entire village for his wife, when a small glint caught his eye. He made his way to the Butsudan in the living room. There between the photos of his mother and father was a small gold band resting atop a folded note.

"No….no no no…"

Gingerly he unfolded the note; his hands shaking as he read Hinata's delicate script.

"My dearest Naruto-kun.

I am so sorry. I am so sorry that I have failed you. I know you wanted a child and a family more than anything else in the world. You deserve a family Naruto-kun. I can't give you that. But I can give you another chance to start again. You deserve a woman who not only can stand by your side as an equal, but who can also bear you a legacy. The Uzumaki clan is almost gone but it need not stop with me. I still love you Naruto-kun. I will love you until the end of time. But I know you won't be happy with just me. I know you need that something more. I know this is selfish of me to leave, and you're probably in pain right now, but I know you. You are too kind, too good. And though you might think you and I would be enough, in the end I know you would come to regret it and that pain would be ten times worse than what you may be feeling now. You are an amazing man Naruto. You have overcome so many things that stood in your way; but this is one obstacle we can't overcome.

Do not look for me. Where I am going you cannot follow. Just please, please Naruto. Go and find someone to be happy with.

Sayonara,

Hinata"

Naruto stood dumbfounded; the paper crushed in his fisted hand.

"Damn it Hinata! BAKA!"

How the hell could she just up and leave like this? She was enough! He didn't need a family to be happy. He needed her. He needed his Hinata by his side always. He was hurt. He was angry; and he needed to go after his wife and make her see that she was the source of his happiness. He would never be happy with anyone else.

Not wanting to waste any time Naruto sat down to collect himself and enter Sage Mode. 'I will find you and bring you home Hinata. There's no where you can go that I can't follow.' It had only been a few hours so she could not have gotten very far.

"Kurama, can you sense her chakra?" Naruto inwardly asked the old fox demon.

"hmmm….hmmm….not there….not there either…she's not in the village."

"Well check the surrounding areas!"

"I know!" growled the bijuu.

Naruto knew she couldn't mask her chakra. She never trained to do that. There were only two reasons why he wouldn't be able to sense her chakra; if she went to another dimension or she was no longer living. Sasuke was the only known person who would be able to jump into dimensions and it was very unlikely that he would have helped Hinata in this case. Naruto didn't even want to think of the latter. Tears streaked his cheeks as he scanned the land for his beloved wife.

"Naruto…she's….."

"I have to find her Kurama. I have to!"

"Naruto! I know you know."

"Shut up Kurama!"

"Naruto, I can't sense her chakra anywhere on this Earth." Kurama's voice was soft and solemn.

"You're not trying hard enough! Try harder KURAMA!" Naruto yelled back.

"Naruto…"

"No!"

"Naruto, I'm sorry."

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!"

"Naruto, she's gone."

A/N: I know I may get a lot of hate because of this fic. I myself am a big NaruHina Shipper. I love this couple so much, so please don't think I wrote this because I hate them. I just needed an outlet to express what's going on in my life. Yes, this is somewhat a representation of my current situation. My husband and I have been married for many years and have yet to conceive. We haven't done IVF yet but we did go through several rounds of IUI. It does take a toll not only on your body but your emotions as well. Anyway not to ramble on and on. I may write a happier alternative ending, but for now I kept it sad because sometimes we all need a good cry.

For all those who want a happier story with lots of lovey happy fluff, please check out my WIP, A Family of His Own and my ShikaTema one-shot, A Troublesome Child. I have not abandoned A Family of His Own, I just have to do more research before writing the next chapter!


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